New York, New York (June 24, 2019) Samuel French, a Concord Theatricals company, and Marvel Entertainment announce the launch of Marvel Spotlight, a collection of stage plays featuring Marvel characters in relatable situations, with storylines that explore relevant contemporary themes.

Starring the iconic Super Heroes Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl and Thor, these one-act plays are now available for retail purchase as well as licensing within the educational theatre market at marvelspotlightplays.com. Designed specifically for the high school demographic, the Marvel Spotlight plays explore universal challenges facing 21st century young adults, including self-image, understanding vulnerability, adjusting to change, the importance of responsibility, and being true to oneself.

The first set of plays released in the Marvel Spotlight collection are: Mirror of Most Value: A Ms. Marvel Play by Masi Asare, where Kamala Kahn has to accept herself just as she is—imperfections and all—if she is to become the hero of her dreams; Squirrel Girl Goes to College: A Squirrel Girl Play by Karen Zacarías, which follows Doreen Green as she attempts to reinvent herself and make “normal” human friends at a new school; and Hammered: A Thor & Loki Play by Christian Borle, where teenage Thor and Loki compete for the favor of their parents through Asgardian rites of passage.

“Over the last 80 years, the Marvel Universe has grown to inspire billions across the globe by telling relatable, personal stories reflecting the world outside our window,” said Stephen Wacker, Vice President of Creative and Content Development at Marvel Entertainment. “With these amazing plays and this uncanny group of talented playwrights, we hope to give the next generation of Marvel fans a chance to bring those stories to life and explore what it means to be a Super Hero right in their own backyard.”

The Marvel Spotlight plays have been created with all types of educational institutions in mind, aiming to be easy to produce on any budget and in a variety of spaces, from a cafetorium to a full-scale theater. The one-act plays are licensed at $75/performance for one play or $125/performance for two or more plays.

“As a life-long comics fan and theatre maker, in the spirit of Marvel Team-Up, it’s a dream come true for Samuel French/Concord Theatricals to partner with Marvel and bring these accessible, affordable plays to young adults across America,” said Sean Patrick Flahaven, President of Concord Theatricals. “We hope this will encourage students across the country to embrace their own traits and abilities.”

MASI ASARE is a composer, lyricist, and playwright. She wrote the score for the secret agent musical Sympathy Jones (New York Musical Festival), published/licensed by Playscripts, with 40 productions to date internationally; book, music, and lyrics for The Family Resemblance (Theatre Royal Stratford East commission, developed Eugene O’Neill Center), a semi-autobiographical musical about a mixed-race family in America; book, music, and lyrics for Rishvor a new musical about racial passing commissioned by Barbara Whitman and Grove Entertainment; and lyrics for Monsoon Wedding, the Broadway-bound new adaptation of Mira Nair’s film. Masi won the 2019 Stacey Mindich “Go Write A Musical” Lilly Award from the producer of Dear Evan Hansen. A past Dramatists Guild Fellow, she has also received the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award for a woman composer of musicals; both the Georgia Bogardus Holof Lyricist Award and the Paulette Haupt Composition Prize from the Eugene O’Neill Center; and an Emerging Artist Grant from the Theater Hall of Fame, nominated by producer Daryl Roth. She holds degrees from Harvard and NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is an assistant professor in the Theatre department at Northwestern University.

KAREN ZACARÍAS was recently hailed by American Theater Magazine as one of the ten most produced playwrights in the US. Her award-winning plays include The Copper Children, Destiny of Desire, Native Gardens, The Book Club Play, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, and the adaptations of Just Like Us, Into the Beautiful North, and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent. She is the author of ten renowned TYA musicals and the Marvel play Squirrel Girl Goes to College, and the librettist of several Ballets. She is one of the inaugural resident playwrights at Arena Stage, a core founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons- a large national organization of artists seeking to update the American narrative with the stories of Latinos-, and she is the founder of the award-winning Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT). YPT was cited by the Obama administration as one of the best arts-education programs on the nation. Karen was just voted 2018 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine for her advocacy work involving the arts. She is an inaugural 2019 Sine Fellow for Policy Innovation at American University and is selected by The League of Professional Theatre Women to receive the 2019 Lee Reynolds Award given annually to a woman in theater who has helped illuminate the possibilities for social, cultural, or political change. She also was awarded the 2019 Medallion by the Children’s Theater Foundation of America for her advocacy your youth and the arts. Karen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and three children. KarenZacarias.com

SAMUEL FRENCH has been one of the world’s leading publishers and licensors of plays and musicals for over 180 years. The company’s catalog features some of the most acclaimed work ever written for the stage and titles by writers at the forefront of contemporary drama. In December 2018, Samuel French became part of Concord Theatricals. With a growing staff of unparalleled experts and unprecedented international reach, Concord Theatricals will support and grow Samuel French’s ethos of championing playwrights, innovating in the industry, and celebrating all those who create theatre around the world.

CONCORD THEATRICALS is the world’s most significant theatrical agency, comprised of R&H Theatricals, The Musical Company, Tams-Witmark and Samuel French. Concord Theatricals is the only firm that provides truly comprehensive services to the creators and producers of plays and musicals under a single banner, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording and first-class production.